AK47

by Michael Hodges (MacAdam/Cage; $24)

General Mikhail Kalashnikov, who invented the AK-47 at the dawn of the Cold War, when he was a sergeant in the Soviet Army, refers to the now ubiquitous gun as a golem—a mischievous creation that has escaped its creator’s control. He once wished out loud that he had invented something less destructive—“For example, a lawnmower.” In this compelling history of one weapon’s outsized impact on the world, the British journalist Michael Hodges not only explores the AK’s crucial role in high-profile war zones like Vietnam and Iraq but also examines the travails of “Kalashnikov societies”—like Sudan, where “the sheer numbers of the gun make it impossible for civil society to assert itself and halt the killing.” Vivid accounts of the gun’s horrific efficacy propel the book along. Yet Hodges’ true aim is to understand the gun’s transformation from a deadly weapon of war into a tragically alluring cross-cultural icon of resistance, especially to American power. ♦

Under the southern portion of the city exists its negative image: a network of more than two hundred miles of galleries, rooms, and chambers.

As the years passed, Tom grew more entrenched in his homelessness. He was absorbed in lofty fantasies and private missions, aware of the basest necessities and the most transcendent abstractions, and almost nothing in between.